Gaming the Game: The Story of the NBA Betting Scandal and the Gambler Who Made It Happen

An affable man with remarkable communication skills and an uncanny ability to process numbers, he worked with and for the sharpest gamblers around the globe. For Jimmy Battista, being a pro gambler meant that he purchased and sold highly sensitive inside information relating to sports events, and placed bets for several exclusive clients who often wagered in staggering amounts. His partners and clients were the ones sportsbooks feared most, and were such big deals they routinely altered betting lines with their plays. His work often took him to predictable places like New York, Atlantic City, and Las Vegas, and included forays in more exotic locales such as Antigua, Curacao, and The Bahamas. Battista was not among the world's top bookmakers or bettors or financiers, but he was arguably the key person in that universe who connected otherwise disparate parties and provided a multitude of services for all sorts of noteworthy figures. He served as a hub of activity with spokes ultimately leading to all sorts of characters, from hardcore gangsters to mob wannabes to heavy-hitting bettors and financiers to mid-level runners to stringers and edge players of all types, each of whom (even if unknowingly) relied upon him and his variegated expertise. It was this assortment of characters that attracted the FBI and which led them to Jimmy Battista and then to NBA referee Tim Donaghy. Book jacket.